Oct. 23, 2010

By Jerry Hill

Always a little on the mischievous side, Rex Garvin's "love" for running started at an early age.

"I had five brothers, and we were all very competitive, but I could outrun all the older ones," said Garvin, the fourth of five children. "I'd play tricks on them, and they would get angry, and I'd have to outrun them to keep from getting killed."

From that rather humble beginning, Garvin won two 440-yard state championships at Class B Leuders (Texas) High School, captured a pair of Southwest Conference championships in the 880-yard run and was part of a sprint medley relay at Baylor that set a national collegiate record.

Forty-five years later, golf has replaced running as Garvin's sport of choice. But he got a chance to jog down memory lane when he was inducted into the Baylor Athletic Hall of Fame at a banquet Friday night at the Ferrell Center. Joining Garvin and the other five Hall of Fame inductees were Wall of Honor recipient Joel Allison and the 1960-63 track teams that won three SWC titles in four years.

"For this to happen when we're having all of these guys back is icing on the cake," said Garvin, who won the 880 and anchored the third-place mile relay to help the Bears capture the team title at the '63 SWC meet in coach Jack Patterson's final year as head coach. "It will be so great to have all of those guys there. Nobody does anything by himself. It's the team that makes it happen. You get caught up in the moment, the adrenaline gets going, and that's how we won those championships. And that's the only reason I'm making it. If I had to get up there and do it by myself, I never would have."

Other than running for his life, Garvin's early training included rounding up cows by foot after his dad sold all the horses. "Those cows tried to outrun me, and they couldn't do it," he said.

Few could.

Patterson caught up with Garvin at the 1961 UIL State Track and Field Meet, where he won the 440-yard dash in a Class B state-record time of 49.0 and anchored the winning mile relay team to another state-record time of 3:24.4. Leuders would have won the team state championship, but Garvin scratched on all three attempts in the long jump, "and I had a better jump all three times than anybody else."

Offered a full scholarship, Garvin jumped at the chance to sign with Baylor despite an offer from nearby Abilene Christian University, a national power that produced 1956 Olympic champion sprinter Bobby Morrow.

"Jack Patterson was so much like my dad. When I met him, I knew I wasn't going anywhere else," Garvin said. "Oliver Jackson was the coach at ACC, and that was 22 miles from my house. He had a lot of morning coffees with my parents on the back porch. But I had a real connection with Coach Pat, just a super guy. I was thrilled that he offered me a full scholarship with all those 2A, 3A and 4A guys out there. We had 19 people in our graduating class."

After helping the Baylor freshman team win the 1962 SWC championship, Garvin missed most of his sophomore season with a leg fracture. But he returned to win the 880 in 1:56.0 and also anchored the mile relay to a third-place finish with Glynn Fields, Darwin Starling and Ray Kayser.

Garvin, now 67, reels off the names like the race was run yesterday.

The next year, despite being bothered by injuries again, Garvin finished third in the 880 and repeated the third-place finish in the mile relay with Kayser, Tommy Baxter and Kenneth Northcutt.

Fully healthy for the first time in his Baylor career, Garvin enjoyed his best season as a senior. He anchored Baylor's winning mile relay and sprint medley relay teams at the Drake Relays, setting a national collegiate record in the sprint medley in a sizzling time of 3:17.00 that broke the previous mark by a half second. The foursome of Garvin, Dick Bourland, Pat Rodgers and Wayne Brandt held the school record for 24 years, and their time still ranks sixth all-time.

At the 1965 SWC meet, Garvin captured the 880 title for the second time in three years with a time of 1:51.2 and once again anchored the third-place mile relay team to earn Baylor's Most Outstanding Track Athlete award.

Through the recommendation of a former Baylor athlete, Garvin entered the Olympic Development program with the U.S. Marine Corps and finished third in the Intra-Service Championships that sent the top two to the '68 Olympic Trials.

"I missed the Olympic Trials by about half a foot," he said. "Tom Farrell, the Olympian from '64 (who went on to win a bronze medal at the Olympics in Mexico) just barely beat me. I ran a 1:49 flat, but I needed to be just a little faster. Who knows what would have happened?"

When he missed out on the Olympic Trials, Garvin got immediate order to ship out for Viet Nam, where he served as a company commander for 13 months.

After a brief stop in Waco, Garvin coached and taught at North Mesquite High School for four years and then hooked up with fellow Baylor grad Bob Bobbitt in a company that has specialized in luxury homes in North Dallas, Frisco and Plano.

"I've been with him basically ever since, selling homes for him," said Garvin, who has scaled down to a four-day work week to accommodate his golf schedule. "He's one of my very best friends. That's one of the better things that ever happened to me was tying up with him."

Garvin taught Sunday School at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano for 25 years before moving to Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco four years ago. Garvin and his wife, the former Nan Scott, have one daughter and three grandchildren that live in The Woodlands.

"I really am appreciative for what Baylor has done for me and the legacy that they have set for athletics," Garvin said. "It's just a great institution, and I am just very proud that I got the opportunity to go there. Those were probably the happiest years of my life. It got me off the farm."

Sic, 'em, Bears!!!